PAUL O’SULLIVAN TELLS MPS HE TRAINED PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA AS A POLICE RESERVIST IN THE 1990s
By Anele Dlamini
#SDN, 11 February 2026
CAPE TOWN: Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan has told Parliament that he once trained President Cyril Ramaphosa as a police reservist in the late 1990s, as he appeared before an ad hoc committee probing alleged corruption and interference within South Africa’s criminal justice system.
Testifying before Members of Parliament, O’Sullivan recounted how he became involved with the South African Police Service after moving to the country as a tourist and investor. He served as a reservist and later completed a three-month trainers’ course, which enabled him to lecture recruits and reservists at a police training centre.
According to O’Sullivan, Ramaphosa voluntarily enrolled in the police reservist programme around 1997, at a time when he was a businessman and not yet serving in public office. “One of our students was Cyril Ramaphosa, who is today the president of South Africa but then he wasn’t even a politician,” O’Sullivan said. He told the committee he lectured on criminal law, police administration, crime investigation and the drafting of sworn statements and that one of the modules included the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
He said the constitutional component was particularly significant, as the Constitution had only come into effect in 1996. O’Sullivan explained that he sought guidance from a constitutional lawyer to better understand the new legal framework, emphasising that police trainees needed to appreciate citizens’ rights and the ethical obligations of law enforcement.
He maintained that his instruction focused specifically on the Bill of Rights and police ethics rather than the full Constitution, adding that Ramaphosa had endorsed the quality of the training at the time.
Pressed further by MPs about his academic background, O’Sullivan acknowledged he has no formal tertiary qualifications. In an exchange with ActionSA MP Dereleen James, he described himself as “completely unqualified” in law or engineering, but said he holds O-level and A-level school qualifications obtained decades ago.
The parliamentary committee continues its investigation into allegations of criminality and misconduct within the police service and broader law enforcement structures.